Ginny managed to hold on to the giggles until they’d pulled away in the little blue rental car. “This would be a lot more effective if we could shoot out of here in the Bat-mobile, or leap into the air and fly away like Superman. Somehow, rolling away in a Ford Focus doesn’t have the same impact.”

Alton’s confused frown just made her laugh harder. It took her a moment to get things under control. “When this is all settled down, and if you plan on hanging out on Earth, we need to rent some movies, make a ton of popcorn, and catch you up on popular culture. For now, though, what’s next?”

He still looked a little confused, but then he merely shrugged and sat back while she drove. “Boynton Canyon, I imagine. I want to check the vortex and see what, if any portals, exist there.”

“Boynton Canyon it is. But food first.”

This time he smiled. “I do like the way you think.”

Ginny already knew Alton liked breakfast burritos, so she pulled through a drive-in window. They loaded up on stuff they could eat along the way.

As Alton was unwrapping his second burrito, he glanced toward a small strip mall and shouted, “Stop!”

Ginny hit the brakes and pulled to the side of the road. “What’s the matter?”

Alton swallowed and pointed at a drugstore. “Does that store sell condoms?”

Ginny couldn’t believe she was blushing. Not after what they’d been up to last night. “Well, yes, but…”

“Take me there.” He swallowed the burrito in a couple of quick bites. “I need some money.” He held out his hand. Ginny fumbled in her purse, grabbed a twenty-dollar bill, and handed it to him.

“I’m not going in there with you.”

He grinned, swallowed, wiped his face with a paper napkin, and then leaned close and kissed her. “You don’t have to. I’ve discovered that the young women who work in stores are always very helpful.”

He got out and walked across the parking lot. Ginny didn’t even want to think about all those helpful young women, especially with Alton shopping for protection. A few minutes later he returned with a large plastic bag. “What did you buy?”

“I told you. I wanted to buy condoms.” He opened the bag.

She looked inside and giggled. “Two boxes of extra large? My goodness. You are an optimist, aren’t you?”

He tossed the bag in the backseat, looked at her down his long nose and raised one dark eyebrow. “I’m following your advice. I merely want to be prepared.”

He sounded so serious it threw her for a loop. Recovering, she quipped, “Are there Boy Scouts in Lemuria?” Alton didn’t answer. When she tried to reach him telepathically, there was absolutely nothing there.

Now why would he be blocking her? Sometimes she was so sure she knew this guy, but at other times he totally confounded her. She turned her attention to the road and tried to ignore the oversized hunk in the seat beside her. It wasn’t easy.

There was hardly any other traffic as they passed through neighborhoods that grew more and more rural, until Ginny was driving past small ranches spaced out along the two-lane road.

“What are those?”

She glanced to her right, saw what Alton pointed at, and pulled over to the side of the road. The fenced and irrigated pasture was unnaturally lush and green for desert country, but she knew it wasn’t the thick grass that had attracted Alton’s attention.

She leaned across him to get a better look out of his open window. “I think those are Spanish fighting bulls. They’re bred for the bull ring in Spain and Latin America, where they live like kings until they’re old enough to fight against matadors, guys who dress weird and carry very sharp swords. It’s pretty ugly—the matadors stab the bulls in a ritualized battle in front of an audience until the bull dies in the ring.”

Alton turned and stared at her. “They kill these beautiful animals for sport? These creatures will die?”

Ginny shook her head. “Not here. Bullfighting in this country is illegal. These are probably some guy’s hobby, more like pets.”

Alton nodded. He seemed fascinated by the small herd. “They look placid enough, but their horns are quite impressive.”

“That they are. Impressive and very sharp.” She checked for traffic and pulled out onto the road once again, but she noticed Alton’s gaze stayed on the grazing cattle with their long, curved, and deadly looking horns until they were out of sight.

He remained quiet, staring out the window as they wound along the two-lane road until they reached the parking lot at the trailhead in Boynton Canyon. Ginny checked her watch. Considering all they’d done this morning, she was surprised it was barely eight o’clock.

Other than her little blue rental car, the parking lot was empty. Gray clouds hung low in the sky and a cool wind was beginning to blow. Ginny grabbed her day pack and a bottle of water, checked to make sure her scabbard was adjusted comfortably, and then followed Alton along the well-worn trail.

“Do you feel anything different here, Ginny?” Alton paused a few steps ahead of her.

“No.” She glanced nervously around, noting the wind-shaped red bluffs and unusually twisted juniper trees. “Should I?”

Alton shrugged. “The energy in this vortex is supposed to be a blend of masculine and feminine. You never did ask me about girl vortexes and boy vortexes.”

He didn’t look like he was joking. Ginny folded her arms across her chest and stared at him. “Are you flirting with me, Alton?”

He shrugged, but he didn’t smile at all. “Maybe a little. Don’t I need to?”

He seemed terribly serious for such an odd question. “It never hurts,” she said. But they continued on in silence, only pausing while Alton consulted his map.

“This way,” he said. They veered off to the left. When Ginny tried to connect her thoughts to his, again there was nothing where she expected Alton to be. Instead, she felt as if she’d run smack dab into a wall.

 

Alton couldn’t shake the uneasy sense he was being watched, and it wasn’t by the gorgeous woman walking along the trail behind him. No, it was an all-over uncomfortable sense of something wrong.

He’d been blocking Ginny most of the morning, mainly because he wanted to think about the fantastic time they’d had together last night and he certainly didn’t want her tagging along on such personal impressions. Now, though, he was glad he’d been keeping her out of his thoughts.

It had started with the bulls and a strange uneasiness he’d felt when he saw them. He’d never been prone to premonitions and didn’t think of himself as all that imaginative, but the feeling had grown stronger, even after they’d left the bulls behind. Now he sensed something about this gorgeous canyon with the red rock bluffs and the gray sky hanging overhead that had his skin prickling and his nerves on edge. The last thing he wanted to do was make Ginny as nervous as he was feeling, though he really missed her comforting thoughts in his head.

He hadn’t realized how quickly he’d become accustomed to her subtle but constant presence. Just as he’d grown used to HellFire. Maybe the sword could tell him what was going on.

HellFire? Is it just me, or do you sense something here is not right?

I wondered if you were ever going to ask.

He definitely wasn’t in the mood for attitude. Just your impressions of the canyon, HellFire. Please. I don’t need a lecture.

Well…all right. I feel it as well, but there’s no stench of demon. No sense of anything specifically evil. More of an unrest, as if the spirits walk uneasily in this place.

Spirits? Demons were bad enough. Now he had to worry about spirits, too? He glanced over his shoulder. Ginny was about five paces back. She stopped when he did.

“Something wrong?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. What do you think? Do you feel anything at all that you shouldn’t?”

She gazed at the rock bluffs on either side of them and frowned. Then she slowly shook her head. “I’m not as relaxed as I’d like to be. Maybe it’s those girl and boy vortexes you were talking about.” She flashed him a quick, if uneasy, grin. “Maybe they’re not getting along.”

He knew his smile was a pretty halfhearted attempt. “What does DarkFire say?” The feeling seemed to be growing, the sense they should be anywhere but here.

“I’ll ask.” She closed her eyes, reached over her shoulder, and stroked the jeweled hilt rising above the scabbard. Then her eyes flashed open. “She says be prepared to fight. She doesn’t know who or what, but to be ready.”

Ginny drew her sword.

Alton nodded and drew HellFire as well. They walked another hundred yards or so, and the sense of wrongness grew. Dark clouds swirled overhead. The soft shush of wind through the canyon and the harsh caw of crows in the distance were the only sounds beyond the scuffle of their boots on the rocky trail.

“Alton?”

The uncertainty in Ginny’s soft call brought him to an immediate stop. “What?” He spun around.

She stood behind him and stared up at the sky. He followed her gaze and his heart practically stood still. Where moments ago there’d been only rain clouds, the sky was thick with dark shapes circling above them. The crows they’d heard weren’t the only black birds gathering. Others with longer wings and ugly, naked heads dipped and swerved soundlessly on the rising air currents. Birds by the hundreds, soaring and gliding above them in a dark circle that rose high into the threatening sky—a veritable tornado of birds.

Yet none of them made a sound.

“What in the nine hells are they?” He realized he’d tightened his grasp on HellFire. The sword quivered in his hand, as if anxious to act.

Wide-eyed, Ginny slowly shook her head in what had to be utter disbelief. “I recognize crows, ravens and turkey vultures. Some of the smaller birds might be blackbirds or starlings, but they don’t usually circle together like that. There have to be almost a thousand birds up there.”

She took a few steps and closed the space between them, but she kept her head raised, her eyes on the growing flock overhead. “This is freaky. It reminds me of an old Hitchcock movie—The Birds. For what it’s worth, that one did not end well.” She touched Alton’s arm. “How far to the portal?”

Alton glanced at the map he’d shoved in his pocket and looked around for landmarks to help him get his bearings. “This way.” He grabbed her hand again, but now they ran along the trail until it came to a fork with a sign that said VISTA TRAIL.

“It’s not much farther.” Still hanging on to Ginny’s hand, lungs heaving with the short, hard uphill run they’d made, he raced along the fork to the right. “We’re close,” he said.

A raven dove at them, screeching like a banshee straight from hell. Ginny ducked just in time as it slashed inches from her face with a beak filled with rows of sharp teeth and wickedly curved claws at the end of each toe. “Crap,” she said, turning Alton’s hand loose and holding DarkFire high. “I was afraid of that. They’re demons.”

“We’ll fight later. This way.” Alton grabbed her free hand and tugged. “That spire over there is called Kachina Woman. The knoll with the vortex must be”—he laughed—“right in front of us. There, where the rocks are piled? Someone’s left a marker.”

“You sure we’ll be better off inside? Isn’t that where these suckers are coming from?” Ginny trotted backward, still watching the circling birds.

“Inside they should still be harmless mist. Besides, if they’re using a portal here to come through from Abyss, we could fight possessed birds forever and never kill all the demons. We need to close the gateway first.”

A turkey vulture shot out of the sky, vicious beak extended and red eyes glowing. Alton pushed Ginny down and bent over her, protecting her with his body. The bird hissed as it passed overhead. As soon as it took off, Alton clambered up the side of the small knoll. He ran his hands over the sandstone face until he found the portal. “Here! Ginny, hurry up. They’re coming!”

He leaned down and reached for her. She grabbed his hand. “Hurry!” he shouted, and hauled her up the side of the rock just as a huge phalanx of screaming birds headed straight for them. Alton shoved Ginny through the portal first. He tumbled in behind her, along with half a dozen screeching ravens.

The cavern was filled with the stench of sulfur. Dark wraiths streamed through a seething red portal. Ginny immediately went after them with DarkFire and the screams of dying demons echoed off the walls. The stench of their burning souls polluted the close air inside the cavern.

Alton battled the birds, but on his own it was more difficult to stop the possessed creatures without harming them. At this point, all he could do was keep them away from Ginny.

“I need to close the portal. There’s no end to them,” she cried. “What do I do?”

“Command DarkFire to shut it. She’ll know.” He shoved a raven aside, but not before it managed to leave a trail of bleeding slices across his forearm. Even their claws were demonic—long and sharp and probably worthless for perching.

Perfect, however, for ripping and tearing.

He sensed the surge of energy in the cavern as Ginny focused DarkFire on the portal. The banshees already through the gateway screeched and screamed, as if they understood what Ginny was doing. Alton knocked another bird aside and quickly reevaluated his opinion of mindless demons.

These obviously knew they needed that portal. The wraiths began to gather, piling one upon the other, taking shape as they’d done in the Shasta vortex. Alton shoved another attacking raven aside and slashed HellFire through the demon mist. All those he connected with burst into flame and died, but others flowed in to take their place.

He felt a burning slash across his shoulders and knew he’d taken a direct hit from a raven, but his focus now was protecting Ginny, giving her the chance to close the portal. She held DarkFire in both hands while the sword’s dark fire covered the shimmering gateway in the rock.

Glowing in shades from deep purple to an incandescent green, DarkFire slowly but surely melted the portal shut. Demons on their way through were immediately destroyed. The ones already in the cave screeched and cried out, their voices growing louder, more frustrated as their gateway to Abyss melted away, as more and more of their evil brethren died.

When it was done, Ginny spun about and grinned at Alton with a triumphant look on her face. It quickly faded when she saw the blood. “Good Lord! How badly are you hurt?”

“Later.” He shook off her concern. “It’s going to take both of us to handle all of these. I’ll knock them down and drive out the demons. Don’t let any get away if you can help it.”

“I’m ready.” She took her position behind him as he swung at an attacking raven, knocked it to the floor, and held it down with HellFire’s sharp tip. The demon immediately escaped from its avatar, but Ginny was there. With a single slash of her sword, the demon burst into flames.

They repeated the moves on the rest of the birds. Alton quickly gathered up the birds, filling his arms with dazed ravens and carrying them through the portal. They were beginning to recover their senses by the time he set them gently on the ground outside, but the sky was clear of their brethren.

Which meant that untold numbers of demon-possessed birds were most likely now winging their way toward Sedona.

 

It was such a strange feeling to be alone in a cavern filled with demon wraiths. Ginny glanced toward the portal and willed Alton to return. She wasn’t afraid, which was weird enough…crap. If anyone had told her just a couple of days ago that she’d be armed with a crystal sword, fighting demons inside an energy vortex somewhere in Sedona, she’d have thought they were certifiable.

She slashed through another dark wraith and wrinkled her nose against the sulfuric stench. Then another, and another. She’d positioned herself in front of the portal that led out of the rock, but she was afraid a few of the demons had still managed to slip by her. Hopefully Alton would catch them outside.

She sensed movement and turned to her left. The demons were gathering again, coming together to form a huge, seething creature with arms and legs and long, sharp teeth. All still made of mist, but she couldn’t see it as a harmless wraith.

Not beneath DarkFire’s illuminating light. Their demonic features were made much too obvious. Out of curiosity, she stuck her hand into the dark mass of demons. Other than feeling icy cold, there was no substance to the joined creatures at all. She slashed DarkFire through the middle and smiled with satisfaction when a dozen demons burst into flames and sparkled away into nothing but stinking smoke.

Suddenly Alton was beside her. “You doing okay?” he asked.

“I am,” she said, lunging forward and catching two demons as they tried to circle around and get past her. “How are you?” She risked a quick glance. “You’re still bleeding.”

He slashed HellFire through a pair of dark wraiths. “I’m okay. Most of the cuts are on my back and shoulders. They don’t hurt as much if I can’t see them.”

She laughed. Only Alton…“What about the ravens?”

“They flew away. That’s what took me so long. I waited to make sure they could fly. I didn’t want something to get them while they were helpless.”

“What about that huge flock?”

HellFire glowed as Alton slashed through another gathering of demon mist. “The birds are gone. It seems they lost interest once we disappeared through the portal. Unfortunately, I have a bad feeling they’ve headed toward Sedona.”

“You’re probably right.” Ginny slashed through the last of the demons within sight. Alton leaned on his sword beside her.

The smell was making it difficult to breathe, but Ginny searched the entire cavern. She didn’t see any more portals or demons. They’d killed over a hundred before she lost count.

Best of all, she and DarkFire had closed the gateway. She stepped close to admire her handiwork. Alton looped a long arm around her shoulders. “Beautiful, Ginny. It’s completely destroyed. You did it perfectly.”

Ginny lifted DarkFire. “No, the credit goes to DarkFire. All I did was hold on for the ride.”

Alton sheathed his sword. After a moment, Ginny did the same, but when she turned to walk toward the portal, Alton drew her into his arms. “Ginny, I am so sorry. Once again, I must apologize. I never would have sent you here if I’d realized the danger.” She felt the warm caress of his lips against her hair and didn’t know whether to laugh or rip his shirt off.

Laughter won, and then it took her a minute to catch her breath. Alton stared at her because he obviously didn’t have a clue what was going on.

She leaned back in his embrace and held his face in both palms. He was frowning, which made her laugh even harder. “Alton, you can be such a jerk. Quit worrying! You’re the one who’s bleeding, damn it!” She dragged him close for a quick kiss, and backed away before he could deepen it. “I wouldn’t have missed these past days for anything. My life has changed in such wondrous ways, and I’m having more fun than I ever imagined. None of this would have happened if you hadn’t sent me to Sedona, and the only thing that would make it better is if Eddy and Dax were here.”

He smiled at her. Then he leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. This time, Ginny was the one who tried to make it last, but Alton pulled away. He straightened up and looped his hands around her hips. “Then it appears we need to call them,” he said. He stared at the melted wall where the portal from Abyss had allowed untold numbers of demons to enter Earth’s dimension.

After a long moment, he shook his head. “We need to check the other portals—the one by the airport and the other at Cathedral Rock. Then we have to hunt down the demons who’ve made it through. There were at least a thousand birds out there, Ginny. That’s a thousand evil souls at the very least, and right now, only two of us.”

Ginny checked the fastenings on her scabbard, grabbed Alton’s hand, and tugged him toward the portal. “And you think two more demon hunters will make a difference?”

Gazing about the small cavern, Alton merely shook his head. “It’s going to have to,” he said. “They’re all we have unless my people decide to join the fight.”

With that depressing thought hovering between them, Ginny and Alton stepped through the portal into a downpour. Rain boiled out of the seething clouds and water raced in muddy streams across the rocky ground.

Ginny took off down the trail at a full run with Alton right behind her. The situation was dire—Alton was bleeding from dozens of cuts and scratches, they were both getting soaked, and they were outnumbered by demons.

Yet for some stupid reason, both of them laughed as they ran through the rain, all the way back to the car.

 

Ginny’s laughter—in fact, her entire good mood—ended the moment they got back to their rooms when she followed Alton into the bathroom and helped him peel his shredded shirt off his shoulders.

All the way back in the car, she’d thought most of the dark splotches on his flannel shirt were rainwater, that the wounds the possessed ravens had inflicted were nothing more than scratches.

She’d been dead wrong. His dark red plaid shirt was torn to ribbons and drenched with his blood. Bits of fabric were actually buried in the deeper cuts, where at least the flannel had helped staunch the bleeding. Ugly gashes stretched across the top of his shoulders and along his left forearm, the one he’d used to protect his face from the attacking ravens.

“Oh, Alton. I had no idea.” She felt like crying as she threw his shirt in the sink. His crimson blood smeared against the white porcelain made her feel even worse. Her hands shook as she grabbed one of the pristine white towels off the rack next to the sink, soaked it in warm water, and began dabbing at the deeper cuts. Most of them were no longer bleeding, though as she washed the caked blood away, some continued to seep.

Alton pulled a small makeup bench close to the counter and sat there while Ginny cleaned away the blood. Even though she knew her amateur first aid had to hurt him, he never said a word. It made her feel sick inside, to see him injured and bleeding.

“You need to see a doctor. Some of these are really deep.” She rinsed the towel once more, wrung it out, and watched the blood-stained water swirl down the drain. As she turned to clean more of the cuts, Alton grabbed her wrist.

She stared at his long, pale fingers wrapped around her arm and wondered if he could feel how badly she was trembling.

“Please. Don’t be upset. It probably looks a lot worse than it is.” He raised his arm and studied the bloody scratches. Then he smiled and shook his head. “See? They’re not that bad. I don’t need a doctor, Ginny. Eddy stuffed some bandages in my pack, if you want to use some on the deeper cuts, but I really don’t need them. Lemurians heal quickly, remember?”

She sighed, shaking her head with dismay. “I didn’t know you’d been hurt this badly. I feel terrible. I was treating it as a big game, like it was all for fun, and you’re bleeding all over the place. I can’t believe I was laughing all the way back to the car! I’m so sorry.”

“Now you’re being the jerk.” For some reason, his gentle laughter made her tense up. “If you’ll recall, I was laughing, too.” He pulled her close until she gave in and sat on his lap, though she certainly wasn’t able to relax.

She could, however, disagree with what he’d said. “I should have been more aware you were hurt. This happened because you were protecting me. You always remember to watch out for me.” She shook her head so hard her wet ponytail slapped the sides of her face. “I was so caught up in the fact that I was actually inside the rock fighting demons with my own sword that I think I got a little carried away.”

He laughed again and hugged her. “It was pretty exciting. I think you had a right to be a little carried away.”

She dabbed at the bloody cuts on his forearm and decided they weren’t quite as bad as they’d looked, but she still felt guilty, as if she needed to do something to atone. She hated the fact he’d been hurt protecting her. Hated feeling guilty over his cuts and bruises and bloody slashes.

Yet even as she worried, she felt panic rising. How had she allowed him to become so important to her so quickly? When had he started to matter so much? They hardly knew each other and yet she was sitting in his lap, dabbing at his wounds like they’d been together forever. She was worrying about him as if he was her responsibility, as if they were actually involved in a really serious relationship.

Which they weren’t. She didn’t do relationships. She didn’t let guys matter to her, because the minute she did they started demanding things she wasn’t ready to give. Even though she’d known him only a few days, already she realized that Alton was everything she’d ever wanted in a man, which was exactly why she shouldn’t be getting so close to him.

Men never hung around, no matter how perfect they might seem at first. They got what they wanted and then they left, or they started making a woman’s decisions for her, taking away her sense of control, her choices, her life. No way was she going to get involved with a guy to the point where he wanted to take over her entire existence.

No way was she willing to give up everything she’d worked so hard for—her sense of herself, her independence, her control.

It wasn’t going to happen.

Except, she had a terrible feeling it was happening already. Whether she wanted it or not, her life was changing. It had been changing since the night she’d been cornered by a demon-possessed concrete statue of a bear, and rescued by a drop-dead gorgeous guy from another world.

If she really thought about what had happened to her since that moment, if she closely examined what they’d done last night when they made love, or this morning when she’d fought demons with a powerful, magical sword, she’d probably end up hiding in a dark corner somewhere, babbling like an idiot.

Life was never going to be the same. Most of what had happened was totally out of her control, but part of the fault was hers—she’d broken her own rules. She’d laughed when he bought all those condoms. Why hadn’t she thought about the implications of Alton buying two big boxes? She should have known what he was thinking, but instead she’d let him inside her shields, those barriers she’d kept up around her heart since she was just a little girl.

She and Alton had made love last night, and it had been unlike anything she’d ever experienced in her life. She’d never be content with any other man, not after a night with him. He’d set an entirely new standard, one no one else could ever come close to meeting.

Even more frightening were all the other changes in her once perfectly normal, comfortably boring life. This morning alone, she’d run from demon-possessed birds and found shelter inside an energy vortex. She’d fought demons with her own sentient crystal sword. She’d used DarkFire to close a portal between dimensions.

Ginny Jones didn’t do things like that. At least she never had before Alton, but she wasn’t just plain old Virginia Jones anymore. She was an immortal Lemurian with a sexy lover and an important job.

“Oh, crap!” She slapped her hand over her mouth.

Alton’s head shot up. “What?”

“I have to be back at Shascom by Saturday. That’s where I work as a nine-one-one dispatcher. My vacation’s over Friday and I’m on swing. That means I have to work late afternoon until eleven.”

Alton’s fingers gently caught her chin. He was smiling broadly when he turned her to face him. “Ginny…think of what you’re saying! It’s impossible. You must tell them you’re not coming back. Your work with me is more important.”

“What?” Ginny’s skin flushed hot and then shivered icy cold, and she could swear she heard her heart pounding in her throat. She wrapped her fingers around Alton’s and set his hand back in his lap so she could finish cleaning the cuts. She couldn’t look him in the eye, so she busied herself dabbing at the blood. “You’re a terrific guy, Alton, and I know this battle is important, but I can’t quit my job. I’ve been there for seven years. I’m good at what I do. How do you expect me to support myself?” She laughed, but she knew he could tell it was forced.

“Why do you worry about supporting yourself?” He shook his head. “I have money. You said the diamonds were worth a fortune. We’ll sell them as we need them. Earning money to live on should be the least of your worries. We have a war to fight.”

She slipped off his lap and stepped back, out of his reach, aware she was shaking her head so hard she probably looked like one of those stupid bobble-head dolls. “No, Alton. It doesn’t work that way. I support myself. I’m in charge of myself. I don’t take money from a man—not from you, not from any man.”

“I don’t understand.” He leaned back on the bench and folded his arms across his chest. “You didn’t mind taking the money to pay for this room. How is that different?”

“This is for one week, Alton, and you sort of owe me for this one because you’re the only reason I came to Sedona, remember? One week, that’s all, and I’m okay with that, but now you’re talking about the rest of my life. If I’m immortal, that’s a damned long life. I’ve got a job so I can take care of myself. That’s important to me. I take care of me. You don’t.”

He smiled at her like she was a complete idiot and shook his head in total denial of everything she said. “In Lemuria, a man cares for his woman. He makes sure she wants for nothing, that anything she needs is provided for her. She in turn cares for her man. She makes his home…”

Ginny slashed her hand through the air. “…a calm and peaceful place where he can relax. I know. You told me all about women in Lemuria. Well, I may be Lemurian, but I was raised human and in our world we’re equal partners—when we’re partners.” She paused and took a deep breath, spun around, and paced across the room. She really needed to put some distance between them.

“We’re not really partners, Alton. I’m not your woman. We hardly know each other. Three days ago, you were practically a stranger to me. Three days is not enough time to build a relationship, much less a partnership.”

If she hadn’t been so busy making her point, she might have been paying closer attention, but it suddenly dawned on Ginny that Alton had gone very still, that anger practically radiated from him in waves.

“I see. So, saving your life doesn’t count.”

She’d never heard his voice sound so perfunctory, his words offhand yet very precise. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees, tilted his head, and steepled his fingers beneath his chin.

Blood continued to run down his forearm. It soaked the towel in his lap. He ignored it, but she couldn’t stop staring at that steady stream of crimson blood. Blood he shed from wounds he’d gotten protecting her.

She stood perfectly still, frozen in place, feeling smaller and more insignificant with each word he said.

“So…if what you’re saying is true, then saving your life, making love with you…we were not building a relationship. Taking you to my home, to Lemuria, sharing the discovery of your heritage—that didn’t count either, I guess. Sharing your joy when you received DarkFire, fighting shoulder to shoulder with you against demonkind…not even when I held your hand and we ran through the rain, both of us laughing.” He shook his head. “All these things we did together. I must have misunderstood. I thought these were the things couples did as they built a relationship, as they learned to care for each other. I guess I was wrong.”

She folded her arms across her chest so he wouldn’t see how badly her fingers were shaking. Everything he said made her feel like an utter fool, which made her dig in her feet and defend her defenseless position even more. “It’s not like anything that’s been going on with the two of us is even remotely normal, Alton. We’ve been thrown together under such strange, extraordinary circumstances, that—”

Her cell phone rang. She’d never been so glad to hear that stupid thing in her life. She clamped her mouth shut, spun away from Alton, and dug through her pack.

She answered the call, unbearably aware of the way Alton watched her. Even more aware of his thoughts battering at her mind as she kept him out. Kept him away from all those twisting, screaming fears that were racing through her mind.

She ended the call and looked at him. “That was Eddy. She and Dax are waiting in the parking lot at Bell Rock. I’ll go pick them up.” She didn’t invite him. Didn’t want him with her. Not now. She couldn’t handle it if they were stuck close together in that stupid little car.

Alton nodded as if everything was perfectly okay, as if he wasn’t absolutely furious with her. “You do that, Ginny. You run away and get Dax and Eddy. I will wait here.”

She nodded, a short, sharp jerk of her head. “Fine. I’ll have the front desk send someone to open up the other half of the casita. That way Eddy and Dax can stay with us. And, for your information, I am not running away.”

Except she was. As fast as she could get her skinny butt out of here. And maybe, just maybe having her best friend here to talk to would help her figure out why she was so horribly confused—and, why the conversation she’d just had with Alton had left her feeling like pond scum.